Telcos spend N4tn on infrastructure in 10 years

Chuks Udo Okonta

About N4 trillion has been spent by telecommunications operators on infrastructure in the last 10 years, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Airtel, Nigeria, Segun Ogunsanya, has said.

He disclosed this yesterday Friday, at the Telecom Development Lecture (NITDEL), organised by the Nigerian Telecomnews weekly, in Lagos.  He added that telecoms operators have over 20,000 base stations and that Airtel Nigeria, expense about N6.5 million to lay a cable within a kilometre.

Speaking on the topic, The Nigerian Telecom Market: Championing the African Course, Ogunsanya, said the nation’s telecoms sector has performed creditably well, stressing that the subscriber base – active lines, presently stand at 120 million. 

He noted that over 40 million Nigerians are connected to the internet and that the broadband penetration stands at six per cent and that the sector contributes about 8.5 per cent to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He noted that efforts are in place to beef-up the broadband penetration to 21 per cent by 2015, 42 per cent in 2018 and 80 per cent by 2018.

Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, who spoke on the topic, ICT, A Tool for Societal Development, said ICT has helped transformed governance in the state. He noted that prior to his administration, the state’s internal revenue was N300 million per a month, but with the deployment of ICT, the state now generates over N1.6 billion in a month.

The Governor urged telcos operators to unite to enable them reduce their overheads especially on infrastructure. He frowns at the decisions of the operators in seeking individual rights of ways in laying their cables.

On the State’s e-learning education project – Opon Imo (Tablet of Knowledge), he noted that the project has helped reduced the cost of text books from average of N1000,00 to N23,00, adding that 150,000 pieces of the tablet is presently being distributed to students in public schools in the state.